His words, Exalted is He:

…By this is admonished whoever believes in God and the Last Day…

He said:

Only a believer accepts admonition. Moreover, an admonition only issues from a sound heart (qalb salīm) that is free of rancour (ghill), hatred (ḥiqd), and envy (ḥasad), and in which there is no ⸢self ⸣ interest (ḥaẓẓ ⸢li-nafsihi⸣).^{1lit. in which he has no share for himself. The addition of li-nafsihi is made on the basis of all three MSS: Z515, f. 117b, F638, f. 56a and F3488, f. 297b.}

His words, Exalted is He:

…God, He will make a way out (makhraj) for whoever is mindful of Him, and He will provide for him whence he never expected…

He said:

Mindfulness of God (taqwā) means disclaiming all power (ḥawl) and strength (quwwa) and all means (asbāb) other than [God]. By resorting to Him (rujūʿ ilayhi), [the servant] will find that God provides for him the means of acquitting himself of that which He has given him to do, without his circumventing it. [This He does by extending to him] His aid (maʿūna) and protection (ʿiṣma). Trust in God (tawakkul) is not admissible from anyone except those who are mindful of God, and mindfulness of God is not admissible except with trust in God.^{1This statement was also made in Tustarī’s comment on Sūrat al-Nisāʾ verse 81 above. The saying is also to be found in Iṣfahānī, Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ, vol. 10, p. 192.} For God, Exalted is He, said: and He will provide for him whence he never expected.

His words, Exalted is He:

…And whoever puts his trust in God, He will suffice him…

He said:

That is, whoever entrusts his affairs to his Lord, will truly find that God, Exalted is He, suffices him in all that is necessary for him in both abodes.^{1i.e. in this world and the next. On tawakkul, see above Tustarī’s commentary on 4:81. See also IT, pp. lv–lvi.}

Abū al Ḥasan ʿUmar b. Wāṣil al-ʿAnbarī reported that he heard Sahl say:

I entered the desert seventeen times without any provision (zād) in the way of food and drink, or a money bag, or a drinking vessel or a staff, and whenever I needed something to eat, I would find it ready prepared for me. On one occasion as I was approaching the desert, a man gave me two genuine dirhams, so I put them in my pocket and proceeded on my way. I had walked for a while but did not find anything so I became weak. I started to say to myself, ‘What have you done that has resulted in that which you are accustomed to being withheld from you?’ Then I heard a voice from the air (min al-hawā) say, ‘Cast out what is in your pocket and what is in the unseen will come to you’, upon which I remembered that I had those two dirhams in my pocket, so I took them out and threw them away. I had not walked for long before I saw before me two pieces of bread spread with honey between them, [as fresh] as if they had just that moment come out of the oven. So from then on I returned to my former state [of tawakkul].